#1 Factor That
Determines the Cost of SEO
Ever hear the joke
about outrunning a bear? I’m no comedian so I’m sure I’ll butcher this,
but it’s an important lesson, so here we go… If you’re in the woods
with your friends and an adult black bear starts chasing you, then how
fast do you need to run?
Do you know the answer?
If you’ve never heard this before then you’re probably trying to figure
out how fast an adult black bear can run. Hint: It doesn’t matter how
fast the black bear can run. What matters is how fast your slowest
friend can run, and whether you can outrun him! :)
OK, I know that’s not a
great joke, but it’ll get your brain warmed up and you may have already
guessed the #1 factor that determines the cost of SEO.
The #1 factor is your competition.
If you’re in a more
competitive industry, then, unfortunately, you’ll have to invest more
in your SEO. You’ll have to work harder to create a more relevant
webpage (e.g. create better content) and to build up your domain
authority (e.g. build more links) than a business in a less competitive
industry.
In other words, to rank
high you just need to outrun your “friends.” The first step is to
review the websites that are ranking high in Google for your target
keywords. An easy and fast tool to complete this analysis is Moz’s Link Explorer.
(You’ll need to create a free account here first).
Head over to Link Explorer
and simply copy/paste your competitor domains into the tool. You’ll instantly
see their domain authority score and their total number of backlinks.
The higher the authority score and the more backlinks your competitors
have, the more you’ll have to invest in SEO to outrank them. You can
also install the MozBar browser toolbar
to quickly check domain authority metrics on any site while you’re
browsing online.
Do You Have
Multiple Office Locations?
With local SEO, the number
of office locations will also play a role in determining how much you
need to invest. This is pretty straight forward. Ranking local Google
My Business listings for each location (as well as maintaining other
directory listings for each location) requires more resources than just
one location.
At a minimum, each
additional location will require you to build additional citations.
Citations are mentions of your business contact information (company
name, street address, phone) on another website. Think of citations
like reference checks for job candidates. Search engines need to
confirm your business information is accurate and up-to-date and they
do this by reviewing all the citations on different websites. If all
your information checks out, then you have a better shot at ranking on
the first page.
Creating citations for
one location can be tedious enough. Each additional location multiplies
the workload.
Do You Have
Multiple Products or Services?
The third consideration
is how many products or services you’re trying to promote via SEO.
Again, this is straight forward. As you try to expand your reach by
targeting more and more product or service keywords, then you’ll need
to invest more in your SEO. At a minimum, you’ll want to build separate
webpages for each of the products or services you’re promoting.
Remember, each
additional product or service comes with a new set of competitors
already ranking high in Google. So make sure you analyze the
competition using Link Explorer before diving in too deep.
No
One-Size-Fits-All Solution
I hope at this point
it’s clear that there is no one-size-fits-all solution for SEO. That’s
why if you’ve done your homework, then you’ve noticed the range in fees
is quite wide.
For businesses in less
competitive industries, with one location and a limited numbers of
services, the investment for SEO fees is often in the range of $500 to
$1,000 per month. For businesses in more competitive industries,
targeting multiple locations and with larger websites a wider range of
services, the investment could be $2,000 per month or higher. It just
depends on your unique situation.
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